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Research Summary
Current Status
PhD (part-time) - currently registered.
Research Topic
Considering the connections between Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast c. 10th-13th centuries.
Research Summary
My research project centers around the connections between Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast, c. 10th-13th centuries. I am assessing primarily textual evidence, utilising archaeological evidence where appropriate to provide further insight and context. The literary primary sources I will be considering in further detail include both Latin and Old Norse texts, while the archaeological evidence may include carved figurines, ship burials and inscriptions. This project aims to reveal how Vikings and Baltic groups forged connections through trade, piracy and exploration, and how the growth of this engagement affected cross-European exchange.
Medieval authors referred to Viking and Slavic populations and to the geography of various regions in different ways, showcasing the ever-changing nature of external preconceptions and biases, while also indicating how cultural identities are formed and interpreted. Surviving texts by these authors and others provide crucial information - both in what is mentioned, and what is omitted - on perceptions of trade, settlement and cross-cultural growth and exchange.
Research Interests
The Viking Age
Ritual versus religion
Folk history and tradition
Cross-European contact in the medieval period
Mythology and notions of afterlives
Concepts of identity
Women's experiences through history
Queer experiences through history
Research Supervisors
Professor Judith Jesch
Dr Monica White
Dr Kate Olley
Primary Funding Sources
Christine Fell Award
Publications
Radziwillowicz, Natalia (2017). 'Considering the connections between Scandinavia and the southern Baltic coast in the 10th-11th centuries.' Innervate: Leading student work in English studies.
Qualifications
MSc Medieval Literatures and Cultures (Pass with Distinction), University of Edinburgh, 2018.
BA (Hons) Viking Studies (1st Class), University of Nottingham, 2017.
Recent Publications
Past Research
'A comparative study of the mechanics of the afterlife in medieval Christendom and Old Norse tradition.' This project considered the ways in which the afterlife was portrayed by Dante Alighieri in his 'Divine Comedy', and contrasted and compared this with the way life after death was portrayed in the writings of Snorri Sturluson. This research was written up as an MSc thesis.